Refrigerator structure and method of making the same



Dec. 23, 1930. MEYERCORD 1,786,078

REFRIGERATOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Nov. 22, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet l Dec, 23, 1930. G. R. MEYERCORD REFRIGERATOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed NOV. 22, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 23, 1930. e. R. MEYERCORD 1,786,078

REFRIGERATOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Nov. 22, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 6755911.

HEM

Patented Dec. 23,1930

- UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE =3. MEYERCORD, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ASSIGNOR TO THE VI'IROLITE COM- PANY, OF PARKEBSBUTRG, WEST VIRGINIA, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA REFRIGERATOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Applicationfiled November 22, 1926. Serial No. 150,121.

The present invention relates more particularly t'o the construction of that type of refrigerator that containsa so-called crock for containing the things to be kept cool. and the heat interchanger, although it is applicable to other uses; and the present invention, generally speaking, has for its object to produce a simple and novel construction and method of construction to bring about a maximum of efficiency at -a minimum cost.

.The so-called crocks in the better grade of refrigerators are either made of vitreous slabs or, as complete units, of porcelain enamelwa're. The vitreous slabs 'may be shipped in a flat condition, but the completed porcelain enamel crocks must be shipped as they are to the manufacturer of refrigerators, unless the latter has a plant for manufacturing the same, and the freight charges on these completed crocks is great because they take up a'large amount of space in proportion to their Weight.

In the manufacture of the refrigerators, the crocks must be effectively heat insulated or the refrigerators are not efficient. This heat insulation has heretofore been placed around the crooks in sections, requiring careful fitting in order to avoid crevices or open spaces through which air can pass or in which moisture may collect.

The insulation and the application thereof are items of great expense; the freight charges on completed crocks are heavy; and the methods heretofore employed in building up a crock out of slabs of vitreous material have also been tedious and costly, so that the porcelain enamel crocks have lar ely replaced those made of vitreous sla s, even though the latter have various advantages .thereover.

Viewed in one of its aspects the present invention may be said to have for its object to produce a simple, novel, and eflicient refrigerator construction in which the crock may be made from slabs of vitreous or other material, without encountering the difliculties that have heretofore been experienced in the use of such slabs.

In carrying out my invention, I propose first 'to heat insulate the crooks by molding about the same a thick shell of material suitable for that purpose. Such a shell may be applied to any kind of a crock. VVhen the crock is to be made of a plurality of pieces, such as vitreous slabs, these pieces may be assembled about a form and be seform of a pulp preferably introduced into a mold or form enclosing the sides of the crock. The pulp may be made of various materials employed as a base together with a cementing medium which, when set and dried, will be moisture proof and possess poor heat conducting properties. Cork divided into small pieces will serve excellently as the body or base, but any known or suitable material having the necessary heat insulating characteristics may be employed. So-called expanding plaster may be used with success as the cementing medium, although other kinds of cement, having suitable properties, are available. Byexpanding plaster I mean plaster of Paris containing small amounts of aluminum sulphate and whiting. There is at least oneadvantage in employing expanding plaster as the cement, because more or less carbon dioxide will be given off in the mold, causing the insulation as a whole to expand and come in intimate contact with the entire outer surface of the crock, and to enter any crevices or depressions and fill'them up; thereby leaving no pockets along the walls of the crock to collect moisture.

After the insulated crock has been completed, it need only be placed in the outer casing of the refrigerator, no further work being required to complete the insulation;

secured together in order to form an enclosing casing fitting snugly around the insulating material.

When the crock is made up of individual slabs, it is desirable that the joints between the bottom wall and the side rear Walls be raised above the upper surface of the bottom wall; and the present invention, viewed in one of its aspects, may be said to have for its object to produce a simple and novel bottom wall or pan for a sectional refrigerator crockwhich will cause the joints between the same and the side and rear walls of the crock to be raised a suitable height above the floor of the crock.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out withparticularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a refrigerator box arranged inaccordance with the present invention, mounted upon a casing adaptedto enclose refrigerating apparatus; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the heat-insulated crock unit of the box; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the flat wrapper sheet for the crook unit; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the base or pan member of the lining for the crock unit; Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the first step in the production of the complete crock unit, consisting of'the assembling of the lining slabs upon a form; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing the parts ready to receive the insulation; Fig. 7 is asection on an enlarged scale through one corner of the lining or crock as it appears in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a section through the lower corner of the lining while the parts are in the conditions shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 9 is a vertical section through the completed heat-insulated crock, being a section on line 99 of Fig. 10; Fig. 10 is a section taken on line 1010 of Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a vertical section through the completed box, with the'door omitted, the same being a section on line 1ll1 of Fig. 12; Fig. 12 is a section taken on line 12-12 of Fig. 11, and Fig. 13 is a section similar to Fig. l1, showing only a fragment of a box having a front arranged as in an ordinary'refrigerator.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, A represents a refrigerator box, provided with a suitable door B, the box being mounted upon a suitable casing or housing C adapted to contain the refrigerating mechanism or apparatus.

The present invention relates-to the box and the detailed description will therefore be confined thereto.

For the sake of brevity I have illustrated,

and shall describe only that form of crock that is built up from individual slabs, although I wish to have it understood that my invention, in some of its aspects, is applicable to constructions in which the lining consists of a single piece made of metal or other suitable material, or of more than one piece even though they be different. from the particular slabs illustrated.

The particular lining illustarted consists of a base or pan 1, best shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 8, together with fiat slabs comprising the two sides, the back and the top of the compartment or refrigerating chamber.

The first step in making the completed crock unit, after the various slabs of socalled vitrolite or other suitable materialhave been produced, is to set these slabs about a suitable form, such as shown at D in Fig. 5; the base being set against one end of the form, the top slab 2 against the other end, the two side slabs 3 against the two sides of the form, while the slab 4 that is to, form the back is laid upon the top edges of the two side slabs and between the base and top slabs. The sideslabs are also preferably overlapped by the slabs 1 and 2. Over the vertical and horizontal corners of the slabs, as assembled in Fig. 5 I place strips 5 of reticulated metal as, for example, wire mesh; the strips being folded along longitudinal medial lines into two wings,

lying at right angles to each other. A tie wire 6 may then be wrapped around the assembled structure as shown in Fig. 6. Over the reticulated metal strips is poured a suitable waterproof cement 7, as best shown in Fig. 7. A thin layer of waterproof cement is placed between the meeting faces of the various slabs before they are assembled. Therefore, after the cement between the slabs and that that has been poured over the reticulatedmetal, has set, the slabs will be united to form a watertight rigid box reinforced with metal at the corners.

After .the cement has been placed on the parts assembled as shown in F ig- 6 and has set sufficiently, the structure is placed into a mold. of which the flange d of the form D may form the bottom, and the mold is then filled with a plastic heat-insulating material which is tamped to'compact the same and insure the filling ofthe entire space around the lining. After initial setting of the insulating material, which now forms a thick unitary shell over the lining, the mold and form may be removed and the insulation dried or otherwise treated, whereupon the insulated crock will be ready for use.

The body or base of the insulation may be any suitable material that may be formed into a pulp by mixing it with a suitable cement. Similarly, cement may be of any suitable kind, as long as it becomes a poor conductor ofheat when set or dry and does not tained, between the insulation and the lining which it encloses. The mixture or composition sets quickly and, furthermore, is able to withstand a temperature somewhat above the boiling point of water. Therefore the crooks need not remain long in the molds and may be dried quickly and without deterioration by heating them to a temperature in the neighborhood of the boiling point of water.

After the crock has been removed from the mold and dried it has the appearance shown in Figs. 2, 9 and 10, in which the insulation is indicated at 8. The refrigerator box is completed by enclosing the crock unit in a simple casing or housing.

The lining, or what is ordinarily referred to as the crock, whether it be of the type illustrated or made of a single piece, is mechanically strong and rigid, so that the only function of the casing is to form a protective covering for the insulation and a support for the door to the box. The casing may therefore be madeof comparatively light material fitted snugly around the crock unit, in contact with the insulation. The principal member of the casing may consist of a single metalsheathed panel suitably cut and grooved that it may be wrapped around the crock unit, leaving the top and bottom exposed; the meeting ends of the panel or wrapper sheet being secured together on the rear side of the box. Such a panel is shown in Fig. 3, the same consisting of a front section 10 two side sections, 11 and 12 on opposite sides of the front section; and two rear sections, 13 and 14, each of half the width of the front section, lying beyond the side sections 11 and 12. The front section has an opening 15 to register with the open side of the crock unit and form the door opening for the refrigerator box. The several sections of the panel are separated from each other by means of parallel V-shaped grooves 16, cut through the body of the panel but not through the metal-sheathing that is to form the outer face of the box. Narrow marginal portions at each end of the panel one on one face, and one on the opposite face, are cut away to a depth equal to one-half the thickness of the panel as indicated at 17 and 18, so that when the panel or sheet is wrapped around the crock unit, the meeting ends may form a lap joint. A narrow marginalportion, as indicatcd at 19. extending along the upper edge of the panel; on the inner side, is cut away to form a seat fora top member to be hereinafter described. Furthermore, a V-shaped groove 20 extends parallel with the bottom -edge of the panel, a short distance from such edge, to provide flanges 21 that may be bent jnwardly to support the bottom wall of the In applying the casing, a bottom member 22 is laid againstthe bottom of the crock unit, as indicated in Fig. 11, and the wrapper sheet is then wrapped around the unit and the overlapping meeting ends secured together in a suitable way. The flanges 21 are bent inwardly and secured in any suitable way to the bottom 22. A light top 23 is then set into the upper end of the shell formed by the wrapper sheet, resting in the seat 19 formed within the same around the top. Suitable clamps or clamping means may be used in placing the wrapper sheet on the crock unit, so as slightly to compress the insulation and insure against leaving air pockets and against looseness of any kind in the fit between the crock unit and its surrounding casing.

There is a feature in connection with the lining of the crock unit to which I have not yet referred. It will be seen that the base member 1 of this lining is composed of a flat slab surrounded by a thickened portion or.

flange 25 that extends above and below the body of the slab. The top of the flange is rounded as is also preferably the bottom edge for the sakeof symmetry. As best shown in Fig. 8, the side and back walls, 3 and 4,

consist of flat slabs, preferably made of vitrolite or other vitreous material, having flat bottom edges which therefore make line con tact with the curved flange on the base. A small amount of waterproof cement is placed in the joints between the base and the side and rear wall-s, some of this cement being shown at 26 as having oozed out of the joint. The,

lower inner corner of each of the side and rear wall slabs is cut away as indicated at 27 to form a bevel. It will thus be seen that the side and rear slabs overhang the joints between the same and the base, so that these joints are not visible from above. The beveling of the lower edges of the slabs avoids slfiarp right angle corners that will readily c 1 J The details of the fastenings for the parts of the outer casing and of the door, are of no importance as they may be varied within a wide range and, therefore, need not be described. However, in refrigerator construetion in general, the front wall is usually reinforced and thickened to give depth to the door opening and, in Fig. 13, I have therefore illustrated such a reinforcing. The side sections of the wrapper sheets are made wide enough to permit the front section 30 to stand apart from the front end of the crock and tion.

sheet tightly wrapped about the crock and leave a space for the reception of wooden framing 31 of any usual or suitable construc- While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An article of manufacture in the form of a crock for a refrigerator comprising a box-like part open on one side and composed of five slabs cemented together, pieces of reticulated metal fitted over the corners between said slabs and cemented thereto, and a unitary shell of heat-insulating material fitting over the said box-like part and leaving the open side exposed.

2. A lining for a refrigerator crock comprising a base having a raised rounded flange along the edges, slabs provided with flat botv tom edges resting on said flange and cemented thereto to form a chamber open at one side.

3. A lining for an insulated refrigerator crock comprising a rectangular base having a raised bead extending around the same at the edges, said bead having a rounded to and slabs resting at their lower edges on an connected to said bead at three sides of said base, the lower inner corners of said slabs being cut away to form bevel edges.

4. A refrigerator box consisting of a heatinsula'ted crock unit, a continuous wrapper having an openin registering with the mouth of the croc an top and bottom heads engaged with the top and bottom of the crock and with the upper and lower ends of the said sheet.

,5. A refri erator crock consisting of a heat-insulated crock unit, a continuous wrapper sheet tightly wrapped about the'crock unit, and having an opening registering with the mouth of the crock, a top member secured to the top end of the sheet, a bottom member, and there being flanges on the lower end of the sheet bent inwardly under the bottom member to support the same.

' In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

GEORGE R. MEYERCORD. 

